Children learn science of snow at Groton workshop

By Mary E. Arata, marata@nashobapub.com

Updated:
01/14/2013 08:39:28 AM EST

GROTON -- Snow may seem cold and uncomfortable to humans. But for hibernating animals, snowpack is home sweet home.

Thirteen children attended the first "Science Saturday" workshop of 2013 on Saturday at the Nashua River Watershed Association Resource Center in Groton. The group participated in a hands-on experience about the natural insulating properties of snow in a class called "The Science of Snow and Ice."

NRWA Education Director Mary Marro started the workshop with a closer look at the shape of snowflakes, which is "just oxygen and hydrogen bonding together," or crystallized water.

"When it's really cold, they're flat crystals," said Marro. "When it's warmer, you get star-shaped snowflakes. And when it's very warm, sometimes you get what's called snow needles."

The shapes are clearer to see if one wears dark clothing when snow falls, said Marro. Fallen snow compacts and may lose the shape the crystal maintained when it was falling.

The students climbed into snow gear and were given clear cup-sized containers that they marked with their prediction of how much water they thought would be left in the cup when the loosely-packed snow they loaded into the cups thawed.

"There is a lot of air in the snow," Marro said.

Later, the class loaded plastic film rolls with a couple of inches of liquid cherry-flavored Jell-O.

The experiment was to determine which of two canisters would freeze -- Jell-O buried under a snowpack or laying on the surface of the snow.

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The children broke into teams of two and three to stake the snow along the wooded trail where they buried their cups.

With Celsius thermometers, the children took the temperature of the snow on the ground-level and the surface.

"Under the snow is actually warmer than on top of the snow," Marro said of the teams' results.

And this is why animals like the snow weasel can burrow and tunnel under the snow cover and eat hibernating animals like young rabbits, chipmunks, and rodents.

The children also came across deer tracks in the woods, spotted a clear patch in the snow where there were battered bits of pine cone on the snow.

Marro noted it looked like a squirrel party had just taken place atop the tree.

"He was probably sitting right up there and eating the pine nuts," said Marro. "They're not edible to us but they are to the squirrels."

One girl gathered up an armful of "corn on the cob" remnants -- dozens of rachis, or the center axis of the pine cone, where the seeds attach to the scales.

Mother Nature threw a curve ball on the Jell-O experiment. Saturday's temperatures were rather mild and rivaled the ground-level temperature.

The Jell-O began setting up in both instances. The children dipped their finger into the mixture to marvel at how quickly the natural refrigerator had worked on the project. The pitcher of Jell-O, likewise, began to harden while the tour was under way.

Marro shrugged. "It would be a bit better if it were a colder day."

In the distance, the solid snow was vaporizing -- a process known as sublimation -- where it becomes a gas without passing through a liquid phase. The opposite process, gas to solid ice, is known as deposition.

Back inside, the children wrapped their workshop with a look at the snowmelt recorded in their cups. They added different substances to determine the effect on the snow.

Of particular interest was adding vinegar and baking soda to watch the bubbling chemical reaction atop the snow, and how salt melts snow to slush.

The Nashua River Watershed Association will host a workshop for families on Saturday from 1-2:30 p.m., which focuses on wildlife that can be found in your backyard.

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